Baby equipment

The Most and Least Useful Baby Paraphernalia

I've always thought I would've loved being in scouts. I think I would've been very good at it too, at least if "always prepared" is the slogan for the Finnish scouts too.

When I got pregnant with Jordan, we had no idea what we need to get for the baby. A bed and a stroller of course, diapers... and a few other things was all I could name. Once I began to get acquainted with all the stuff that's out there for babies (and that's a lot of stuff) I started finding all kinds of things that I figured would be useful.

As you may have noticed from my posts, I like to plan and prepare way in advance. Whether it's the bathroom baskets for weddings or baby stuff, my motto appears to be "more is more"... and let's not forget that it all needs to be in the right colors as well. I'm not saying this is always the best way of doing things, but it's a natural way for me.

I've collected quite an arsenal of baby stuff and the things I didn't get, I researched pretty thoroughly and dismissed for a good reason. All in all, I would say that I know pretty well what's out there and a lot of the stuff we own ourselves. That's another passion of mine in addition to over preparing, devices and gadgets! Apparently this is a trait I've inherited as my mom loves them too, just like her dad did.

Now, that Jordan is already almost six months old(!) it's time to evaluate how useful these different items have ended up being.

It's clear that each baby and family have different needs so my experience is just that. As I explained, I love preparing for pretty much anything and I love different kinds of devices and gadgets and so we definitely have more stuff than is absolutely needed. In the end there are only few things that you really need and most of the other stuff is just there to make life easier. It's up to you, if you think it'll be worth it.

Diaper Pail

This is definitely one of those things that may not be a must have but it's super useful though. You'll need to empty it maybe twice a month and the pail makes sure that the diapers don't stink. As you may know, with a regular trash, you need to take it out at least once a day as diapers will otherwise stink up your whole place. We got a white Tommee Tippee diaper pail, it comes in a few different colors. You can either buy trash bag cassettes for the system or if you want to be more ecological (and economical) you can also buy a roll of the plastic bag and fill the cassettes yourself. There's a bit more work this way but it's up to you which way you go. There's no pedal for opening this (its only flaw) so we leave the lid cracked so that it can be used with one hand.

Baby Carrier

We have a beautiful Tula Free to Grow baby carrier in linen sand color.... it's just that our baby doesn't like it at all. The problem is that you can't put a baby on it with their face facing forward so they don't really see much and at least for Jordan, that makes it boring for him. There is an option to put the carrier on your back and then the baby can see forward over your shoulder but that setting isn't suitable for small babies. I was really disappointed that we didn't get much use out of this as I often thought that it would be so handy to have my hands free and this would be better for my back than carrying Jordan in my arms.

We recently visited Stockholm's Abba museum and when we got there, they told us that we can't take our stroller inside the museum. They did, however, lend us a Baby Björn baby carrier and all I could think of was that 'I hope being in a new place will be interesting enough for Jordan so that he'd be content at least for a little bit'. But guess what! He was all happy sitting in the baby carrier for the whole time we were at the museum, and we were there at least for a few hours. He was able to sit facing forward and Eerikki, who was carrying him had his hands free and we didn't have to drag the stroller with us, it was so convenient. When we got home, I immediately started searching a baby carrier that would allow the baby to face forward and landed on Tula Explorer also in linen sand color. I'm still waiting for it to arrive, let's hope Jordan likes it!

Baby Monitor

I was looking for a baby monitor with a camera, not really thinking if the camera really was necessary. After talking with a few friends who have kids I started to realize that a regular baby monitor will be more than sufficient for our needs. My friend recommended the Capidibaby monitor and that's the one I chose. It came in a pretty Pearl color and I even found covers for it that have marble decoration. I admit that it would be much more gadgety if it had a camera and I have once woken up Jordan by accident when I had to check he was ok when sleeping on the balcony but still, I think that a regular baby monitor is sufficient for us. This one has always worked perfectly, it has a good battery and it came with a beautiful little night light and the device itself is very pretty. I can't think what more one could need in a baby monitor so I definitely recommend this one.

SIDS Monitor

Once I learnt that there are SIDS monitors, I knew right away that we'll have to get one. I had always worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep if I had a baby as I would be so worried that something would happen. I've read that a lot of times there's a reason behind SIDS, such as the room (or bed) temperature being too high, thick pillows in the baby's bed etc. but I still wanted to have a monitor for extra safety and so I got us the Nanny SIDS monitor that is placed under the baby's mattress.

Ok, so the idea is great and the device is surprisingly sensitive, which is obviously a good thing. The problem isn't the device itself but the fact that Jordan wasn't sleeping in his own bed for the first four and a half months. As the monitor would alarm every time Jordan would move to the side of it it was impossible to use when he was sleeping in our bed. So, we had very little use for it in the beginning we could only use it when he was taking a nap in his own bed. When he started sleeping in his own bed the monitor was great but it wasn't long until we had to move him to a bigger bed and as the monitor's mattress would had been too small for that bed, we ended up using it for quite a short time in the end.

That being said, even with this amount of use it was still worth the peace of mind for when we were able to use it. If your baby is sleeping in their own bed, this is great. Do find out what you need to do if it does alarm though, as the alarm alone may not be enough in an emergency. If I was buying an SIDS monitor now I would get the Owlet monitor instead of the Nanny one as the Owlet monitor has a sock that the baby wears so it can be used anywhere the baby sleeps, in the stroller too.

Electric Breastpump

I had planned on pumping instead of nursing so I knew I needed a good breast pump. I ended up nursing after all, but I also pump almost daily as by pumping breast milk it's easier for Eerikki to take care of the baby. I bought the Philips Avent electric double breast pump and I have been really happy with it. I also got the Lansinoh pumping bra which is also pretty handy though most of the time I pump one side at a time as I'm too lazy to put on the pumping bra... ok that really does sound lazy :D. Maybe it's not just about laziness, the pump feels more comfortable when you hold it by hand and you have to have the bra on quite tight. So, if you're pumping in a rush, I recommend a double pump and a pumping bra, otherwise you'll be fine with a single pump, like I would be. I've never tried a manual pump but I'm pretty sure that if you pump often, that wouldn't suffice. Nowadays I have a pretty good pumping routine but in the beginning I found it difficult that the device isn't cordless and due to that I was stuck in a certain corner of the couch with it. If I would pump more than once a day, I would switch to a cordless one.

Microwave Sterilizer

We have one fromPhilips Avent and it's great. It's easy to use and cheap, so I definitely recommend it. I can't even imagine boiling all the baby's pacifiers and bottles everyday for four months. With this you can do it so easy and fast, all you have to do is put some water in the system, put everything in that you want to sterilize and have it in the microwave for a few minutes.

Bottle warmer

Well... this device raises mixed feelings, especially for Eerikki. Mother's milk is not recommended to be heated up in a microwave so a bottle warmer is the best option there is. Our heater from Philips Avent (no we didn't get a package deal on all this Philips Avent stuff :D) - is just really slow and the minutes it takes to heat up the milk can be quite excruciating when the baby is crying for milk like right now. Also, if the water is still warm , it won't start heating it up again which means it's really hard to know when the milk is ready. The only way to solve this is to change the water to cold and start the heating up again. So, I highly recommend a bottle warmer, but I would compare devices and try to find one that's at least a bit faster.

Babysitter

I read that the one from Baby Björn is the best so I went with that and got one of those. Is it the best? I don't know since we haven't really tried many others. My mom has an Emma babysitter and Jordan didn't want to sit on that, but then again we only tried it on one day. I like our babysitter because it's pretty and Jordan is willing to sit on it at least for short periods of time. Usually Jordan sits there while we eat or he might be ok sitting there for a short while while we clean up or something but he wouldn't wanna sit there for too long. I'm happy with this purchase, any time that the baby is happy somewhere else than in my arms is great but do note that the time you will use a babysitter is actually quite short, as soon as they start moving more, they won't want to sit there anymore.

Stroller Rocker

Even I knew enough about babies to know that a device that'll rock your stroller for you, will be very useful. We chose the Rockit Baby Rockerbecause, well, I'm an astrophysicist, and so of course I had to have the space rocket rocker. We use it every day and nowadays I take it with me when we go out so that the baby doesn't wake up if we stop moving. We also use this every time the baby is sleeping on the balcony. The other stroller rocker I know is called "Sleepytroll". It's smaller, voice activated and can endure colder temperatures. I think I would buy that one if I was making the decision now, as the one we have is quite big and in the winter it often didn't work even on our balcony that has glass windows as it was too cold for it.

Play Mat

I absolutely love our play mat. It's from a brand called Mamas & Papas and it's white and gray. It's like it was made for us, it has the moon and stars and penguins. I love space themes, at least when they're done beautifully and penguin is our family's own little theme animal. By pressing the arm of the penguin toy, small lights lit up on it's belly and the hanging stars make different kinds of sounds when you squeeze them. We've used the play mat daily since Jordan was something like 1 or 2 months old so I definitely recommend it.

White Noise Toy

We quickly learnt that there's a reason people shush babies, it really does calm them down. Apparently it reminds them of the sounds they heard in the womb. In the beginning we were using cell phones or a small speaker and played white noise from Spotify when Jordan was sleeping but that got pretty difficult pretty fast. First of all playing white noise all night was using up all the phone's battery and probably wasn't good for the phone in the long run. Also, the white noise usually stopped at some point and that woke me up and if someone called when the baby was taking a nap the baby would wake up. So in the end we decided to invest on a white noise toy even though they seemed quite expensive to me in relation to what they do -like 65 euros for a thing that says shhhh. I only knew the Moonie- bunny but I didn't like the way it looked so I started looking into other options and found the adorable Moonie Teddybear! I loved it immediately and so we ordered it. The teddybear is so cute and if Jordan will like it as a toy too when he's a bit older, it'll be worth the money. We use it every night and its "pink noise" is much more pleasant to listen to than the basic white noise. It also has other features such as lights and other sounds, though we haven't used those very much.

Tasting pacifier

We didn't really start tasting pureed food before Jordan was 5 months. We were told that we could start when Jordan is 4 months but I was worried that it would get in the way of nursing. They told us at "neuvola" that there's no harm as long as the portions are small and so we started tasting foods but then we all got the flu and took a break. We started again when Jordan was feeling better but he didn't enjoy it at all. Soon, we couldn't even get him to open his mouth when we brought a spoon near him. I figured that the reason was that when he was sick, he had gotten liquid painkiller from the spoon which was super sweet and yummy and when you expect something like that and get potato-carrot mush, you would be pretty upset... So I decided to get one of these tasting pacifiers to break the spoon-association and to give him the control to put the food in his mouth himself. This was a huge game changer. We switch it around so that sometimes he gets some pear pure which he loves and sometimes there's something new there but he's always ready to try what it is this time. I also bought a bigger tasting pacifier/bottle but it's way too big. I just end up throwing most of the food in the trash so I highly recommend small pacifiers if spoon doesn't work.

2 Comments

  • Anonymous

    Hei, kiitos vinkeistä! Olen tässä vertaillut vaipparoskiksia ja kuulisin mielelläni miten tuo vaipparoskis toimii ilman kasetteja? Hieman on hirvittänyt kasettien hinnat, niin tämä vinkkisi on aivan mahtava!

    • Sissi

      Moi! Just itseasiassa vaihdettiin tohon pussiin ja ainakin tähän mennessä vaikuttaa toimivan ihan yhtä hyvin. Säästä vaan pari niitä tyhjiä kasetteja ja sit vaan ostat pussia ☺️

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